The Expanse 5x04 + 5x05: http://markdoesstuff.fetchapp.com/get/220a00d9

Oh, no! I checked my copies, and they have the same problem, which probably means a bunch of the other ones I downloaded are messed up as well. :( I have e-mailed Mark to see whether he has the Little Prince videos backed up somewhere that he could send me, but I'm sure he's pretty busy writing right now, so who knows how long it will take him to respond.

The Expanse 5x02 & 5x03: http://markdoesstuff.fetchapp.com/get/e8eadbda

Here you go! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xpgo5prfay7vyvn/AABe0t...

Sozin's Comet: Avatar Aang

--I'm definitely drawing some parallels between the sphere of earth that Aang is using to shield himself and the sphere of ice that Katara and Sokka found him in in the pilot.

--How long is this extra power from the comet supposed to last?

--Who knew it would be that simple for Aang to access the Avatar state again?

--But we know he's not invincible in it either. Even if he's looking pretty invincible now.

--Katara saves the day!

--Here's the thing, though. A fight needs to be more than just impressive visually. The fight between Zuko, Katara, and Azula felt personal and like the stakes were real. The fight between Ozai and Aang is getting to the point where it just feels like neither of them is succeeding in hurting the other, so there are no stakes. We know Ozai is going to lose, so he needs to just lose already!

--No, Aang! I understand not wanting to kill Ozai while he is immobilized and helpless, but that doesn't mean you should let his hands and feet free of the rock and then turn your back on him!

--Deus ex lion-turtle?

--It's interesting, because I did have the thought that one way to defeat Ozai without killing him would be to make it so he couldn't firebend anymore, but I didn't know whether that was possible, so I didn't say anything!

--Sokka. You shouldn't kick a man when he's down. It's in poor taste! :p

--Now do Azula.

--Yeah, yeah, Mai and Zuko, blah blah blah. I guess she's proved her loyalty to him, so I can accept it.

--I love that Ty Lee joined the Kyoshi Warriors. :)

--I was just thinking that if the episode ended without a mention of Zuko's mother, then I would have to conclude that she was really dead, because I was never sure if I was supposed to come to that conclusion. But now that Zuko is asking about it, I guess she's alive after all!

--I love that Iroh is in Earth Kingdom green now! But why is everyone else in green as well? Sokka and Katara certainly don't have any reason to want to give up their Water Tribe affiliation!

--*rolling my eyes at this kiss one last time for good measure* Seriously, why are we getting a big dramatic romantic scene between these two children to end the series?

Sozin's Comet: Into the Inferno

--Well, it's more original than another episode titled "Into the Fire"!

--I thought Aang was supposed to fight the Fire Lord before the comet arrived, not during!

--I actually dislike Azula even more than I dislike Ozai. I'm sure most of that is because she's had more screentime, but also she just feels like more of a threat. I can imagine them neutralizing Ozai without killing him, but I just can't imagine feeling like the characters have actually won for good if Azula is still alive.

--Ozai: "I'm king of the world!"

--On the other hand, if Azula keeps alienating everyone, maybe I'm wrong and she isn't as dangerous as I thought.

--LOL, I love that it was someone's actual birthday!

--Seems like someone would have noticed the airship breaking formation, though.

--Sucks to be all of the crew members on that airship that just died! I guess Aang doesn't care about killing them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--This fight between Aang and Ozai is visually impressive!

--WHAT is Katara doing there on the field of battle?!

--Well, this looks bad, but I'm sure it's all going to work out. *crosses fingers*

Sozin's Comet: The Old Masters

--WHERE IS IROH??

--Yay, we're going to track Iroh! I hadn't gotten there yet when I wrote the question above. :)

--Well, I thought Gramp-Pokku was cute, Sokka!

--Unfortunately, I'm clearly supposed to remember all of these old masters from previous episodes, but because of the long break I had to take, I really don't. (Also, I have a bad memory for faces, which apparently gets even worse when dealing with animation.) I remembered Sokka's sword teacher only after he bowed to him, and that was only a few episodes ago! I did recognize Aang's old friend from Omashu, though!

--Avatar Kuruk liked to "go with the flow." I see what they did there. :)

--This is all great advice that Aang is getting from past Avatars, but none of it really seems likely to give him the answer he needs right now!

--Is Momo going to turn out to be a Flerken, or something? :p

--Somehow, I don't thing the past Avatars were saying what Aang things they were saying. Which is one problem with giving cryptic advice like that!

--Aww, Iroh is giving Zuko a hug! <3

--Good talk, everybody! Although I think Iroh's description of who should take the throne would fit himself just as much as Prince Zuko! Also, it looks like I was right about the reminder in the previous episode.

--Too bad it wasn't an elephant-turtle. ;)

Sozin's Comet: The Phoenix King

--Random thought before I start, but it feels intentional that they reminded us in the last episode that Zuko is the rightful heir to the Fire Nation throne. We'll see whether I'm right.

--I just don't see how they resolve the conflict in the show without both Ozai and Azula ending up dead, but I also don't see our heroes actually killing them in a kids' show. So this should be interesting.

--That's . . . interesting reasoning on Aang deciding to wait until after the comet to fight the Fire Lord. However, given that it's the last episode, and it's titled "Sozin's Comet," I don't think it's going to work out for him.

--Wow, I'd kind of forgotten about that war council. I assumed it was about the invasion during the eclipse, so it didn't matter anymore.

--So I have a question I've been wondering about for a while. If Aang truly is the last airbender, how do new airbenders get born? If there is intermarrying between the tribes, how does inheritance of abilities work? If Aang really did manage to marry Katara the way he seems to want right now, would their children be airbenders, waterbenders, or a mix of both (if they inherit the bending ability at all)? What would happen to the Avatar if the cycle got back around to air, and there weren't any airbenders left?

--Basically what I'm saying is that Ozai's plan seems short-sighted to me. The world is made of all four elements, and so wiping out the tribes relating to three of them would be bound to cause imbalance.

--A;LKSJDF;LKJADFLKJASDFL;KJ Captain Planet reference! Love it! <3

--Sokka's sword is really impressive if it can cut through solid rock!

--"I can't just go around wiping out people I don't like." Aang, that's a gross mischaracterization. You wouldn't be wiping him out because you don't like him; you'd be wiping him out because he's about to commit genocide. I think that's a little more morally justified.

--Oh! I almost missed that the island wasn't there anymore in daylight. I had to rewind to double check.

--Love that Toph is pointing out that she hasn't "gone on a life-changing field trip with Zuko" yet. :)

--Azula, maybe you wouldn't be so impatient if you had brought a book with you! Kind of boring traveling in a palanquin all by yourself otherwise. :p

--Ah, I was wondering who or what "The Phoenix King" referred to, given its association with fire.

I can't believe there's only one (4-part) episode left! I plan to watch the whole thing sometime on Saturday, so keep an eye out. And then I will follow up with my thoughts on the series as a whole.

The Ember Island Players

--Suddenly remembering that we have no idea where Uncle Iroh is right now! I hope we find out in this episode and don't have to wait for the finale!

--"Surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage." Ha!

--An episode about a play seems like an odd choice at this point in the season. I wonder if something big will happen at the end, or whether it really is just a regular episode.

--Wow, fake!Katara is way overdramatic! Fake!Sokka is pretty spot on, though! :p

--Okay, (a) I'm so mad at Aang being upset that his character is played by a woman, and (b) I could actually tell she was a woman from the poster before they even got to the play, so I don't know why he is surprised?

--LOL, Iroh and Zuko are pretty good too!

--How long is this play? They seem to be going into a fair amount of detail.

--Also, Zuko definitely had a point about the quality of this acting troupe, although a lot of it is down to the quality of the writing as well. But given it was written and performed in the Fire Nation, I suppose they should just be happy it isn't turning them all into villains.

--That was an impressive amount of research, though!

--I have a feeling Toph isn't going to be quite as sanguine about her own character. :)

--Nope, guess I was wrong!

--What this play does do, though, is make them all look ineffectual. I wonder if that was the point, or if it was unintentional.

--Haha, the meta joke about whether Jet died!

--Can't believe the playwright ships Zutara as well! Annoyed at how seriously Aang is taking the whole thing.

--Oh, right. They think the Avatar is dead. I was wondering how they were going to have a satisfying ending to the play if the climax of the real story hasn't happened yet. Surprised at this failure in research, though!

--Whoops, guess there were two intermissions in the play and word got around about the failed invasion. Because obviously. Still leaves open the question about the ending, then.

--Once again, this playwright is a hack. How do you have a whole play that's about a certain set of characters and then have them lose ignominiously right at the end? That makes sense in a tragedy, but that wasn't the tone of the rest of the play.

--I have to say that even though the quality of the writing and acting was atrocious, the stage effects were excellent throughout!

--Haha, I paused the episode to write that comment right before the end, only to discover that Sokka agrees with me!